Baby rocker



Allg- 13, 1963 D. M. scHoEl-'FEL 3,100,638

` BABY ROCKER Filed March 2oi 1961 6' INVENTOR DIETMQR M. SCHOEFFELFTT'TOENEY United States Patent O 3,100,638 Y BABY ROCKER Dietmar M.Schoeiel, 355 Hillsdale Ave., Hillsdale, NJ. Filed Mar. 20, 1961, Ser.No. 96,992 4 Claims. (Cl. 2172-33) The invention relates to baby rockersand `in particular to those baby rockers which lare caused to rotateunder the urging of the rocking by the baby.

After babies reach the age of six months they start to rattle the sidesof their cribs and to rock in their stollers or carriages. They appearto obtain considerable enjoyment both from the `sounds produced and theexercise. Unfortunately, most of these devices in which a baby rocks arenot designed for such strain and in a short time they develop structuralweakness so that they cannot be used freely lor have to be discarded.This misuse of baby furniture results in an atmosphere lof nervoustension 'and lcontributes to the insecurity of the child itself.

While it is true that there are various devices available which permit ababy to rock as much as it pleases, they all appear to possess a commondisadvantage. The motion of these prior art devices is generally limitedto a single direction even though the chair or similar mechanism whichis actuated by the toddlers impact, is spring suspended.

F[be present device, which I call Rockn Roller, gives considerablesecurity and pleasure to the child. Parents enjoy .peace of mind sincethey known that the baby is safely and joyzfully occupied. The RocknRoller satisfies the babys natural drive for activities which producemoF tion while at the same time making him lawareV ot the fact that hisenjoyment depends on his physical eiiiorts.

'Ilhe seat of the Rockn Roller, which may be a boat, car, borse, swan orany other suitable orm, becomes accelerated in la to and 'fro motion dueto the rocking of the baby. The device is mounted on four wheels, two ofwhich are ratcheted. The back and forward movement of the chair causesthese ratcheted wheels to produce rotation of the wheel base therebygiving the baby a constantly changing view of its surroundings. Y

Accordingly, it is an important object of the invention to provide ababy rocker which rotates under the urging of the rocking by the child.

This and other objects, advantages, uses and :features will be apparentduring thecourse of the `following descrip tion when taken in connectionwith the 'accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a top view of the device of the invention, and

FIGURE 2 is la side elevational view of the device 0f FIGURE l with onewheel, that facing the observer, removed. p Y- p In the drawings,wherein there is shown for the purpose of illustration, a preferredembodiment of the invention and wherein like numeralsare used todesignate like parts throughout the same, lthe numeral 1 designatesthechilds seat. 'Ilhe rocking motion of the chair is in the directiondesignated by the `arrow X and the direction of rotation of the wheelbase is shown by means ofthe arrows Y.

Chair 1 is drectly'linked to uninterrupted axle 2 which is mounted inhousing 3 in a free bearing fit.` `The chair is permitted to tilt in arestricted angle around point 4. Restriction is accomplished because;`of the fixed `distance between chair 1 and housing 3 which resultsfin apositive stop of boththe forward and backward motionof chair` 1.

llhe forward or backward motion of chair 1in direction X is transmittedto axle 2 because of the positive connection of the two elements.

Tbis motion factuates ratchets 5 and 5a which are iastened to axle 2.The mating portions of the natchets 5 and 5a are mounted on wheels 6 and6a which are in a loose bearing t with axle 2. It can be seen that therocking of lchair 1 upon being transmitted to `axle 2 causes thenatohets 5 and 5a to transmit a rotational motion to Wheels 6 or 6adepending on whether the chair is moved forward or backward.` Due to thearrangement of the ratchets 5 and 5a the rotation in the direction Y isthe same regardless of the direction of movement of the chair 1. Thevelocity of the rotational motion is directly related to the velocityand 'angular motion of chair 1 in direction X.

Axle 8 is interrupted at housing 3 as shown in FIGURE 1. Wheels 7 and'7aare mounted on the ends of axle 8 in a loose bearing iit. They givesucient support to intercept the forces developed by the swinging ofchair 1 in directions X.

Tension springs 9 are fastened to chair 1 and axle 8I to keep the Kchairin 1a suspended neutral position in the approximate center of itspossible motions.

While I have disclosed my invention in relation to a specic example andin a specic embodiment, I do not wish to be limited thereto, for obviousmodifications will occur to those skilled in the art without departingfrom the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, Iv claim:

1. A baby chair for operation in a circular path under force provided byan operator comprising (2z) a iframe,

I(b) an uninterrupted axle mounted within said frame and freelyrotatable with respect thereto,

(c) an axle interrupted in the center thereof mounted to said frame,

(d) 1a rst pair of wheels mounted at the ends of said interrupted axle,

(e) a seat mounted on said uninterrupted axle so as to be pivotallymovable in a direction transverse to that of said uninterrupted axle andso as to apply rota,- tional force thereto,

(f) ia second pair of wheels mounted at the ends of said uninterruptedaxle,

. (g) rotation control means' mounted between each of said second pairof wheels and said uninterrupted axle such that the4 rotation ofsaidsecond pair of wheels is unidirectional regardless of the direction ofthe r0- tational force applied to said uninterruptedaxle,

(lz) means or limiting the pivotal movement of said Seat. 1 2. A babycbairas describedin` claim 1 whereinsaid wheels are spaced apart by A 3.A baby chair as `described in claim 1 wherein said means for limitingthepivotal movement'of said seat comprises a pair `of springs mountedbetween said seat and saidd'rainef..

4. A baby chair fas described in claim 1 wherein said notation controlmeans comprises `a pair of ratchets;`

References Cited in thele ofvthispategnt :l p UNITED 's'rArEsgPATENrs`1,466,476 t' Mahkey Auges, 1923` `2,457,355 Dittmar Dec."2s, 19582,650,645@ 'Granlund Sept. l, .1,953 2,769,635 Decken s rgNov 6, 1956VPatented Aug. 13, 1963

1. A BABY CHAIR FOR OPERATION IN A CIRCULAR PATH UNDER FORCE PROVIDED BYAN OPERATOR COMPRISING (A) A FRAME, (B) AN UNINTERRUPTED AXLE MOUNTEDWITHIN SAID FRAME AND FREELY ROTATABLE WITH RESPECT THERETO, (C) AN AXLEINTERRUPTED IN THE CENTER THEREOF MOUNTED TO SAID FRAME, (D) A FIRSTPAIR OF WHEELS MOUNTED AT THE ENDS OF SAID INTERRUPTED AXLE, (E) A SEATMOUNTED ON SAID UNINTERRUPTED AXLE SO AS TO BE PIVOTALLY MOVABLE IN ADIRECTION TRANSVERSE TO THAT OF SAID UNINTERRUPTED AXLE AND SO AS TOAPPLY ROTATIONAL FORCE THERETO, (F) A SECOND PAIR OF WHEELS MOUNTED ATTHE ENDS OF SAID UNINTERRUPTED AXLE, (G) ROTATION CONTROL MEANS MOUNTEDBETWEEN EACH OF SAID SECOND PAIR OF WHEELS AND SAID UNINTERRUPTED AXLESUCH THAT THE ROTATION OF SAID SECOND PAIR OF WHEELS IS UNIDIRECTIONALREGARDLESS OF THE DIRECTION OF THE ROTATIONAL FORCE APPLIED TO SAIDUNINTERRUPTED AXLE, (H) MEANS FOR LIMITING THE PIVOTAL MOVEMENT OF SAIDSEAT.